Scenes of Vermont Forums

Before you all get too excited, "naked" refers to my equipment (photographic, I mean ) choice for my recent Eastern Caribbean Cruise.

We had a roller-coaster week before the cruise, as my wife was dealing with her mom being in the hospital and some medical issues of her own. Ultimately, we were able to make our cruise (with some adjustment in our airline reservations), though and it was some well-deserved (especially for my wife) R&R. Last Fall, when we made the reservation, I made the decision to acquire a high-end P&S and take ONLY it on the cruise. At the time, it seemed like a good and easy resolution. However, in December, I decided it was time to "up the ante" on my lens array, and traded my "trusty" 28-300VR in for 24-70 and 70-200 f2.8 "pro" lenses. It was much harder to leave them home -- but I did.

In another thread here, Carol teased me about missing the Nikon just a little. While the word "regret" is strong, I did miss the versatility and quality of a DSLR with good glass. I bought the Canon G12, which I thought was the right mix between portability and quality. And, it is, without a doubt, a nice camera. I reviewed it on my blog.

I took many images with the G12 during the week, which included stops at the Bahamas (Princess Cays), St. Maarten, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. While the camera does a decent job in normal, daylight situations, I was disappointed in the overall image quality delivered by the smaller sensor. I took some night shots in which the noise is nearly intolerable. I also found it very difficult to shoot with a straight horizon (in spite of the G12's built-in level function -- which you can only see if you do the "tourist" thing where you hold the camera way out in front of you and look at the LCD screen to compose). I found that I had to do that alot, as I was very unfamiliar with the amount of parallax when using the camera viewfinder (a much more comfortable way for a 30-year, SLR user to compose).

I am still in the post-processing phase, but last weekend, was able to get about 1/2 the "keepers" done. They are posted on my Website under the "New Additions" Gallery, for those who might be interested. You will see that it is a different style photograph than you are used to seeing from me.

Just an update. I have finished post-processing my Caribbean Images and they are all now on the site

Hi Andy: I just finished reviewing your Carribean photos and they are GORGEOUS! I am so impressed with all the festive colors and blues of the ocean. Looks like you and your wife had a great vacation and the weather looked divine.

My favorites include the cabana shots and the street bazaars because of the brilliant colors. I also like the last set of the lime green house against the blue sky.

Just an awesome set of photos! I'm looking forward to my island vacation a year from now but I feel like working on my tan very soon!

Thanks for posting these!

OK, first a little criticisms. I was kind of dissappointed in the lack of fall colors. All of the foliage almost looks green. And the water is way too blue. I think maybe you over saturated.

Wait, these aren't fall photos of New England are they... Is that allowed? Have the moderators caught wind of this violation of the code?

Seriously, wonderful photos. So nice to get to see the alternative to the never ending drab winter/early spring we have here. I had forgotten how much I love those vibrant colors that only the Caribbean can pull-off.

Thank you for sharing.

Thanks, CT and Dean. Maybe I could "Photoshop" some Fall Colors in . But I don't think those Palm Trees can quite pull it off.

I LA they made palm trees "pull off" Christmas lights so, apprently they are more multi-seasonal than one might think.

Thanks, Carol. I actually had fun doing this. One thing that was a real challenge for me was to get people in the images without them being identifiable. I actually applied some blur to a couple of them . Its either that or start getting releases signed. Don't see me doing that